Hard to believe I'm posting in this thread. I graduated with my PhD last week. It's all over!! 6 years of hell lol. Thanks to everyone on this forum for the camaraderie. Xxx

Just wanted to swing by and say that I submitted my corrections this week and while it took every bit of energy I have to do, that's that done. Graduation in July. Next post will be in the 'hall of fame' threat. Can't believe it!!

Good luck to everyone else finishing up xx

Hi all, I had my viva last week and passed with minor corrections! It really hasn't sunk in yet but I'm overjoyed. Three months to do the corrections and I'm done.

I really struggled at times throughout this whole process and I really mean it when I say if I can do this then you can too. Just get the words out - pomodoro or go to a thesis boot camp. You can and will do this!

Thanks for all the camaraderie on this forum. Looking back on previous posts and I can't believe I'm done. Will no doubt check in again after corrections. Good luck all finishing up. You can do it!!

Hello all. Happy to report that I submitted last week. It's not perfect but it's done, which I think should be the motto for PhD study in general!

Back at my zero hours contract job here too. Going to take until Christmas off before actively seeking employment in HE - hopefully! My viva is in the new year so don't have to think about that for a few weeks either thank goodness!

For anyone else writing up, I didn't think I could ever finish and submit,but you can and will get there. Stay strong!

Hi guys, just checking in again. Anticipate a full draft of all chapters by next Wednesday, then off to supervisors while I edit, re-draft, start on the conclusion and abstract and work on my bibliography, etc. 41 days til hand in. October will be a stressful month.

Just had feedback on chapter 3/5 from supervisors and while there are lots of fiddly bits, no major methodological changes required so I'm really glad about that. This weekend I really need to finish cobbling together a very rough full draft of the entire thesis. Still two chapters awaiting feedback but they're small chapters and I'm happy with them.

I will probably need at least six weeks with a full draft to make the changes, rearrange bits and pieces, add in extra bits, do my bibilo up properly so I'm on track for that. Really trying to just get this full draft done and then I know I'm nearly there!

Managed to write 4k this weekend which I'm happy about. This chapter I'm on has been completely planned out so I'm finding it much easier to write than previous ones. Also racing through things as it's a shorter chapter too. I'm going to get up early and hopefully write another thousand before work tomorrow and then hopefully about 2k tomorrow evening. After that, edit and tweak on Tuesday before sending off. Going camping Wednesday - Friday as a well deserved break and then back to my final chapter which I hope to turn around by the 31st. Pressure is definitely on but I don't feel too overwhelmed. Just important I get the full draft out of my system, then I have two months to work on refining it.

Hope everyone else had a productive and happy weekend :)

Finally starting to be productive again. A little behind my planned schedule but on course for a full draft of the thesis by the end of the month. Have a big weekend of work ahead but feeling good about what I'm writing and editing. Will update again soon - more for my own accountability than anything! :)

Have been a bit ill/down for the past while, perhaps exhaustion from getting my chapter away and my body telling me I needed a break. Back at it today though, with a goal of Chapter 4 drafted by 14th August and Chapter 5 done by the end of the month.

Really important I just get the words out and refine the sentences later. Thankfully I have a good chapter 'map' done so I know exactly the structure of it and what needs to be done.

Will check back in here and record word counts etc as and when they happen.

Good luck everyone!

Checking back in here because I couldn't bring myself to post, progress has been so slow.

I sent off my chapter 3 to supervisor yesterday. So that's 3/5 done. Current word count approx 65k so the two remaining chapters are quite small, about 10k and 8k respectively.

I put in my intention to submit today so it's T-minus three months to get this thing wrapped up. Writing of the last two chapters has to be very very quick now. Everything is researched and all the work is done, it's just bringing the words out is my problem.

Aiming to submit chapter 4 to supervisor by the end of this month and chapter 5 by 14th August. So will try and hold myself accountable by coming here and posting a daily word count of words written.

My supervisor is no help at all and would be content to let me languish in this limbo forever it seems. So it's really now or never. I do think it's doable though. At worst, a full draft for early September will still leave me 6-8 weeks of bringing the whole thing together, writing the Intro and Conclusion. I can't go any longer than October or I will quit the PhD altogether.

Motivation has been a bit lagging this week but trying to do a bit tonight and work all weekend to get Chapter 3 finished. It's a big chapter, approx 20k, and Chapters 4 and 5 are relatively small by comparison (both approx 10k). Really need to bash the end of this chapter out in order to make my deadline of a full draft by end of April. Hopefully the next time I check back in here it will be to say I've sent the chapter off to my supervisor.

Hi all,

In final year here as well. Currently finishing up Chapter 3 of 5 at the moment, with a view to handing it to my supervisor by the weekend. I'm doing a 'thesis boot camp' in February where the goal is to write a chapter in a weekend so hoping to have 4/5 drafted by the end of Feb. I turn 31 in late-March so hoping to put my head down from now til then and have a full draft written, with a June/July submission date.

It's been a really tough journey, looking forward to finishing this year.

Hi guys,

Just looking for a bit of perspective here. I'm in year 5 of my Literature PhD though since running out of funding at end of year 3, I've been working at it pretty much part time, balancing writing up with a job on top. It's been a tough slog but I'm getting ready to hand in my third of five chapters this weekend. I have all my reading and research done for the thesis, with all chapters outlined and researched - I do feel an expert and I'm making an original contribution, it's just the writing that holds me up.

Currently, I'm sitting on about 45k words at the moment with two chapters left to go and my supervisor is pushing for an April submission. I feel that this is do-able and that the pressure of submitting will spur me on as motivation is sometimes so tough when you come home from work and want to do anything but write.

Can anyone relay to me their last few months of writeup? I think two chapters (approx 12k each) and bringing the whole thing together is do-able in 16 weeks. It might not be perfect, but a finished PhD is a good PhD, right?

Any tips, stories to keep me going would be much appreciated.